(04-10-2014 08:25 AM)Rahn127 Wrote: ...
I may have a bias in wanting religion to simply be a malfunctioning area of the brain. It could relate to my desire to want to lobotomize the lot of them

Who knows

Thanks for the OP.

I've no long come back from a 4 hour 'chat' about consciousness. Wish I'd seen the vid first.
The good news was that the only person who talked about 'vital forces' stormed of in huff because no one took him seriously.

Meanwhile, who do you explain people like RobbyPants? People who are ex-believers.
Did the gullibility region of he brain suddenly stop functioning correctly?
Or did the critical thinking region of the suddenly start working correctly once faced with overwhelming data?

I think not.

Would it not be more likely that beliefs are the emergent output from the processing process?

Our brains aren't static. Every new thought creates new neural networks, new connections. This is why there is value in learning how to do complex math, even if you think you won't use it in your lifetime. Learning new ideas is like building on a landscape. The more you learn, the more connections you make in the brain. Those connections are electrical connections.

Religion is an isolation to one book, one set of ideas. When you can get someone to read other books, other ideas, talk to other people outside their church, this expansion of connections can create changes in thought.

An area in your brain that is isolated and has a specific function can remain isolated if no new connections, no new thought patterns are formed. Reading one book by Dawkins or questioning one idea about ones religion can cause new neural pathways to be created in that area of the brain. Those new connections can lead to more connections and all that activity can cause more electrical stimulation to that area of the brain.

This idea of more electrical stimulation to a specific area of the brain that holds a specific function is what I'm talking about.

I know that religion and gullibility and believing in something when you have no reason to all have similar causes. We can look at the over all social aspect, but when it comes down to it, it is our brains that behave a certain way. Understanding how the brain works is a first step in understanding why people do things that don't often make sense.

Insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results